Reply #11: Wrong.

[Hansel]

Most of the vitriol is most definitely being fueled by racism.

If their scenario was the case, why aren't there large groups of Democrats involved in the shouting at Town Hall meetings and signing on to Tea Bagger events? We are upset about the economy, but we aren't acting like we are insane.

Starting with Ronald Reagan and Lee Atwater the Republican Party started blowing the racist dog whistle. Maybe the WH doesn't remember the mantra spewing out of Paul Harvey's mouth on behalf of Saint Ronnie, but I damn well do remember. I got caught up in it because I was on public assistance at that time. They tenaciously harped about welfare queens driving Cadillacs and wearing fur coats to drive to liquor stores from day one.

It was all a part of the "tax and spend liberal" BS Saint Ronnie spewed all of the time. The "working man" was told to be angry at the welfare queens driving Cadillac which was code for "Black" instead of looking at the money he was pissing away and the corporations' role in the bad economy and high unemployment rate at the time. The "working men" were so angry that they had no problem conforting me in the checkout line for using food stamps. Or shouting out to an entire store that I was on welfare.

The whole point of bringing up entitlement programs was to remind the working poor that it was the welfare queens that were taking all of their money. The driving Cadillacs part was to play on the "Blacks drive Cadillacs" stereotype. It the big scary warning that if you elect Democrats they will give all of your hard earned money to "th'm thar colored folks". Part of this strategy was the hand wringing about Affirmative Action where the "lazy" Blacks were going to take jobs and college slots away from the hard working white folks.

Bush Sr. upped the ante on the racist dog whistle with the Willie Horton ad. In other words, if you elect a Democrat, he will let all of the Blacks out of prison and they will rape and murder your daughters.

This time it is Glenn Beck with his "stealth reparations" mantra. Because Obama is Black he is going to finally be carrying out all of the nightmares mentioned above, plus he is going to enact a bunch of socialist programs as a form of "stealth reparations". These programs include Health Care Reform and green job programs.

This is the end of the line. Obama is finally going to take over America for the Blacks. These morons have been hearing the racist dog whistle blown for nearly 40 years now. They have been warned over and over again that the Blacks are getting all of your hard earned money. And they are scary. Now you have a Black man in the White House. These morons think that the big ugly plan that the Republicans have been warning them about is about to come true. And people like Limbaugh, Bachman, Palin, Beck, Hannity and on and on and on are all sounding the racist dog whistle so loud now that even the most clueless among the media are starting to hear it.

This unprecedented vitriol is about race. The Republicans are making sure of it.

I think the White House is playing it smart by not getting down in the trenches on this, but the rest of us need to stop pretending that the racist dog whistle hasn't been blowing since Reagan. Everyone needs to stop pretending they can't hear it.